The Interdependent Nature of Well-Being: Evidence From American and Japanese Spouses

The present study investigated spousal interdependencies in well-being and the sources of these interdependencies among Americans and Japanese. We collected high-powered three-wave longitudinal and cross-sectional data from a wide age range of participants (<i>N</i>s = 3,012 American couples aged 26-96 and 2,307 Japanese couples aged 24-76) and assessed a variety of well-being measures. Study 1 replicated previous findings that American spouses' well-being was positively associated with each other. Studies 2a and 2b generalized the findings of Study 1 to Japanese spouses. Both Studies 1 and 2b showed conflicting results: There were effects of mutual influence and shared environmental factors' influences on American and Japanese spouses' well-being in a longitudinal actor-partner interdependence model when using the cross-lagged panel model, but not when using the random intercept cross-lagged panel model. These findings illustrate that the interdependent nature of well-being is an essential feature of American and Japanese married couples.